Fairbanks, Morse & Co. v. Superior Court

Petitioner applies for a writ of mandate for the purpose of compelling respondent to allow petitioner to amend a document theretofore served and filed by petitioner as a draft of a bill of exceptions. The question as to whether or not the peremptory writ should be granted is raised by respondent’s demurrer to the petition.

The following facts appear from the allegations of the petition: On April 1, 1916, Pearl Meeker and William McGuire commenced an action against petitioner and Samuel Bowen in the Superior Court in and for the county of Fresno for the conversion of certain drilling machinery and equipment, and after a lapse of five years the action was brought to trial. On October 31, 1921, the court ordered judgment for the plaintiffs therein, but on the same day set aside the submission and granted an order to take further testimony upon the issue of the value of the property alleged to have been converted. The action was then allowed to lie dormant for another five years, at the end of which time, to wit, on January 28, 1927, an order of reference was applied for and granted directing a court commissioner to take the testimony relating to the value of the property which the…